Medcalf is a bar/restaurant in London in the Finsbury area, it has an events space next to it which is currently holding an exhibition by Nathalie Guinamard, an emerging young artist. This exhibition is 'showcasing a mixture of work made whilst on a residency in Beijing, August 2007, and new work' (as written in the pamphlet). The residency in Beijing refers to the Red Mansion Foundation Art Prize, which she participated in 2007. Nathalie is based in the UK and specialises in what would initially be seen as mixed media collage, installation and photography, but upon closer inspection would be more akin to 'visual poetry'. I asked her what her collage work was about a year ago, and she described them as photographic renditions of english idioms in collage form. It has changed a lot, this time I observed a connection with altering space with collage. I guess she cut out her collage bits from interior design and architecture magazines (a friend assumed they were from magazines specifically from china because of the residency).
The series was called 'Staircase', probably because of the appearance of a staircase in every piece, and really took space to another dimension, perspective is twisted like a magic box. They were all very intricate and detailed, I wouldn't have the patience to make such things myself since they seem to take a lot of concentration. There was also some of her 'tippex' work, which are collages tippexed to leave behind a white space of shapes (you can see some good one on her website) from the pamphlet: the work 'explores the relationship between interior and exterior space by a process of disrupting scale and architecture' and that the inspirations are derived from 'observations of everyday culture, popular sayings, nursery rhymes, and idioms'. I milled around and met my friends from the art course a year ago, how they have changed! We all seemed to miss each other, and I was interested in their adventures over the course of the year. Emma had been holding exhibitions of her paintings around the world, mainly in Italy, at the twenty vente art event, New york, and the UK. She only just moved to London and had an exhibition a month ago, which I missed (doh). Eleanor had worked in various industries after graduating, from office jobs to gallery work, and had practiced her skills in portraiture (I asked if I can have one done of me, she said yes), back in the day she did these great canvas works made of needles, and sculptures of resin and wood, so I found the change a surprise. The exhibition is from September the 8th to October the 8th and can be accessed from Farringdon or Angel Tube Station. Its a 10 minute walk from either station. If you have a soft spot for collage, you may find this interesting.
Artfutures 2008 features Nathalie
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